It's been a while and a lot has happened in the last 3-4 months since I got back from New Zealand. But now I am ba-a-a-c-k!

I haven't been posting because the person I used to be married to (I can't call him what I would like to) has taken comments out of context from this blog and used them against me. But I decided that f**k him, this is how I keep family and friends informed about where I am and what I am doing, so will post regardless of what he does. He can go take a flying leap - hopefully off a very high cliff!

Currently, I am in Colorado in a tiny town called Eaton, staying with Susan and Dan. And we are in the supposed middle of spring but it snowed yesterday and the day before, plus we have a freeze warning and a lot of farmers and locals lost crops.

But to go back to the end of January...

After spending almost 10 weeks in New Zealand with Zoze, I spent time with Ryan in LA, then went to Long Beach with Betsy, where we had the use of a condo for a few weeks.

But I didn't settle in right away but headed up to Montana to see Cody, Mel and the little boys. It was the dead of winter and when I got off the plane in Missoula it was -19F! It was a wonderful visit and they seemed to be getting used to the new lifestyle. Oliver and Everett (especially Oliver) love the snow and he was able to snowboard on a ramp Cody built for him. It's a very dry cold, so even I spent time outside! From there, I went to Port Townsend and stayed with Mardelle and Jim for 10 days at the B&B (bed and booze) which as usual is a lot of fun! Dinner at the Ajax, dinner at The Fountain Cafe and one night a sleepover as Susan was also in town and Pam came over as well. Too bad, Janet was there, but she was still in Mexico, lucky girl.

I also went down to the house and saw 'the boys' who were so happy to see me. I miss those guys so much and can't wait until I can retrieve them - and have a fixed base for myself.

Being in the condo in Long Beach was fun. It was really easy living there. Betsy is an easy roomie and we had a good time, with a couple of side trips and lots of beach walks. Well, not really 'on the beach' walks, but the sidewalks in Seal Beach, Redondo Beach and Long Beach. Seal Beach and Redondo are both places I would be happy to call home. (At this point in my life, I would be happy to call anywhere home!)

Long Beach, or that area we were in, is what I would call 'iffy' but the best part, there is a Trader Joe's just around the corner, although I wouldn't walk there at night! There is also a small wine bar where Betsy took me for my birthday as I really didn't want to celebrate medicare! She also organized a St. Patrick's Day dinner which ended up being a birthday party, much to my chagrin.

And Ryan took me to see The Book of Mormon at the spectacular Pantages theatre, with dinner first. The whole evening was fun as we took the tube from right close to his house! Yes, LA has underground trains which are wonderful - and inexpensive.

Steve and Cathy invited me down to stay with them for a couple of day in Encinitas. I always so enjoy spending time with them! And we spent time with
Brynn and her three little ones - no wonder she is so slim! With a four year old and one year old twins. she is constantly on the move! I was exhausted just watching her! But it was good times and great to have such steadfast friends in my life.

When our time ran out at the condo, my next stop was back at Ryan's for a couple of days. He had his two-year check up (It's hard to believe it was two years ago that I made that frantic around the world dash to be with him in hospital!) I hung out at the hospital while they did the checks and he is just fine!

Then it was the long drive to Colorado. I was lucky and got there without any serious weather hazards. The day after I got there, a big winter storm rolled in and I would have been stranded somewhere in the Rockies as I don't have all weather tires and was not carrying chains! My car was loaded up with everything I own, just about! I saw the most spectacular scenery along the way and shot most images with my amazing little iPhone!

I tool a quick trip - well, not really quick as it was two days of driving to get there - to Montana to see Cody et al, but the trip was disastrous so won't go into details, a sad state of affairs. Headed back to Colorado after one day, doing the return in a day. But I did get some great photos on the way there, driving through Wyoming to the Grand Tetons near Yellowstone, across part of Idaho into Montana.

Weld County where Eaton is, is a very agricultural area as well as being the center of all fracking (oil and gas) in Colorado. Not a pretty picture and I worry about the air quality, especially with summer coming. The one really hot day we had a couple of weeks ago, the air was thick! I haven't seen smog like that since the 70s in Los Angeles! Fortunately, the wind picked up the next day and blew the sh*t away to some other poor people! It seems that people don't seem to care what is happening to the earth and air around here. There is just too much money at stake. Crops are sown up to and around the wells which might just as well be pumping out $100 bills.

Susan and I have done a few day trips - coffee shops, antique stores but she has started back into real estate so doesn't have a lot of free time any more. But it's ok because now I get to catch up on blogs, photos, emails etc. They have two dogs and two cats, which is great. I really have missed having animals around. Pepper, one of the kitties is my pal and sleeps with me at night! Very cute girl!

Nothing much going on with ecology - we keep the site relatively fresh when we can and there is supposed to be funding coming in... but...

So I keep looking for something to do/a job/anything but without a lot of luck. I a very grateful for the place to stay here or heaven knows where I would be. Of course, I know I can always go back and stay at Mick's in South Africa and now that being close to the little boys is no as imperative, it is an option. Especially with the exchange rate the way it is! Makes living on my Social Security pretty close to doable.

That's a quick snapshot and catchup of my life over the last few months. Granny Travels has more but that is not really a "what I am doing" blog but there are some cool pix on it and more about places I've been.

Oh, and p.s. the new header will change - as you might have noticed, I've update the site but the header sucks!